Hidden Underground Shelters that Will Survive SHTF

December 23, 2018

Are you someone who’s a serious survivalist that ever dream of having their own underground shelter? For quite a time, you have wanted to build your own survival bunker especially when SHTF strikes. You may now have a safe haven where you can escape and find refuge in the event of an emergency.

When this time comes, there are many, many ways to go about building and creating a hidden underground shelter. You will surely get a lot of ideas from this post for your own survival shelter. But before getting ideas into some modern underground shelters, let’s take a brief lesson from what happened in history.

The Derinkuyu Underground City

In Turkey, you can found one of the most amazing sites called the Derinkuyu. It is an underground city that was built around 15th to 12th century BCE to protect the locals from invading armies. Derinkuyu is quite impressive due to its strong whole structure.

This underground city can hold about 20, 000 people plus food stores and other livestock. It also has wells, winery, school, and even chapels. People in this underground city are protected through its air shafts to keep them from suffocating.

As a prepper and survivalist, you can get a lot of ideas from the construction and structure of Derinkuyu. One of the most fascinating features of this underground city is its massive stone doors. Its doors are made from rocks that can be rolled into passages inside but it couldn’t be moved from the outside.

People in Derinkuyu didn’t actually live underground all throughout the year, they also had homes above ground. If invaders would attack them, they would retreat to their underground city. So invaders would find an abandoned city above ground and left no traces of them.

Hope that you are inspired by the story of Derinkuyu City in building a hidden underground shelter when SHTF. Below are the things to help you get started.

Getting Started On Your Hidden Underground Survival Shelter

Finding the Perfect Underground Spot. The starting point in creating your hidden underground shelter is to find the spot; it has got to be some land. If you don’t have any spot to place your survival shelter, then it is impossible to have one.

But before looking for a land to build your underground shelter, take a moment to think about someone you know who owns some land somewhere which can be used for building the survival shelter. In this case, you might get it at an affordable cost.

Remember that selecting the right spot is the key for building your hidden underground shelter.

You need to make sure the right soil composition and you can access quickly.

Excavation and Structure Planning. If you want the excavation process to be done timely, you are going to need some heavy machinery. But of course, this would cost you. If you want to cut cost or your budget is your concern, you can opt for the old-fashioned way, use a shovel.

Otherwise, if you think that you can’t have all the time in the world in building your bunker, then you can rent excavation equipment, or hire contractors to do it for you. This option would cost you though.

Either way, excavation costs will be a significant amount of your building budget, so plan for it. In your plan, you may include the structure of your preference. You just have to make sure that it blends with your budget.

Air Filtration. Filtered fresh air is very necessary for an underground shelter. Fresh air is critical if you intend to stay down there for a long period of time. Especially, if the disaster event is a nuclear attack and you’re dealing with the fallout.

When you are excavating, make sure to leave room for the air vents. During hot weather, filtered air will not only provide you necessary fresh air but so as on hot weather. It will keep your underground shelter cool with air flow.

You should also consider investing in a high-quality gas mask and a bunch of filters in case the Air remains unsafe to breathe.

Water and Electricity. Your underground shelter will not be complete if it doesn’t have all the survival features you require.

If possible, the best thing to do is to put in a well. Unless you are in a very dry area or one with a lot of clay in the soil, you can put in a driven well, which is literally pounded into the ground, like a long spike.

Building your underground shelter come in all shapes and sizes. They can range from small storage bunkers to entire living facilities, equipped with sleeping and food preparation areas. Whatever your need or use, an underground bunker is sure to exceed your expectations. Find out here some hidden underground shelters that will help you survive when SHTF.

Shipping Container Underground Shelter

Make your own hidden underground survival shelter through a DIY Shipping container. This is the cheapest way of getting your own survival bunker. But using this, it’s almost a terrible idea because of things a little bit more complicated for some. Some of the issues are soil corrosion, walls are not loaded bear. It also needs air shafts to prevent suffocation. Theses shafts could prevent air flow.

The price of a shipping container depends on how used or rusted it is. When it comes to excavation costs, most companies hire out a machine and operator on an hourly basis for a varied range of work. Companies typically bid on the residential excavation for the entire project based on the number of yards of dirt to be moved

Galvanized Steel Underground Shelters

Galvanized steels can surely be used as a bunker and one of the most popular names in pre-fabricated underground survival shelters is Atlas.

Atlas galvanized steel offers a lot of features like generator pods which can attach to the shelter underground for a concealed power source. They also offer models with the main entrance hatch plus escape hatch, tested air filtration systems, underfloor storage, and a 200-year lifespan.

Vivos Survival Shelters

Vivos survival shelters are luxury shelters that are known for its massive underground survival shelters which can house hundreds of communities. It uses multiple rod-like designs and multiple rods can be put together to expand the size of the bunker.

For individuals who wish to own or build an underground shelter on their land, the Vivos Quantum is the right choice for you. It measures a long and wide size and dimension and can accommodate about 6-8 people.

Another remarkable feature of the Vivos Quantum shelters is it can be hooked up to an underground well. Using a hand pump, you will be able to provide your own water for the tank. Clearly, this kind of underground shelter is reliable when doomsday hits.

Radius Engineering Survival Shelters

Radius Engineering is made from fiberglass shells which are an advantage in creating an underground survival shelter. It can keep from becoming rust and also less likely to crack compared to other concrete shells.

This kind of bunker has a fantastic air purification system which uses 3 different purifiers. Radius Engineering builds its bunker with nuclear warfare and its air purifier has an UV-radiation sterilization system as well. Simply, this kind of underground shelter is most suitable for military and government use.

Natural Nuclear Bunker

In the U.S, there are actually a lot of natural nuclear underground shelters that are absolutely free. You just need to identify the closest one to your home.

Remember that these natural nuclear shelters will only protect you from initial radiation burst and nuclear blast. During times of emergencies or any catastrophes, you still need to get out and find something to eat and drink so you’ll still be uncovered.

Building a Concrete Block Nuclear Shelter

Building a concrete block shelter is much convenient compared to a narrow rectangle shape shipping container, especially on how you want or need it. With regards to the cost, concrete blocks have less cost per square foot if you will build a larger one.

The whole underground building can be reinforced if you want more structural security. The floor and walls can be tied together with bent 5/8 rebar and incorporated with grout into every core. In the ceiling, you can incorporate H beams.

Abandoned Missile Silo

Abandoned Missile Silo is a missile launch facility built to be protected by a large blast from nuclear attacks. It is a vertical cylindrical structure constructed underground used as storage and launching intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs).

The structures of this bunker have the missile some distance below ground. All of these bunkers come in with a fairly decent property ranging from 10 acres up to 50 acres, and most of them have a medium-sized house just above the bunkers.

In the U.S., there is some abandoned missile silo that can be used as your hidden underground shelter. Its price varies a lot from site to site, ranging from $500,000 up to $5,000,000 and you can purchase an additional 20 acres at a reasonable price.

It may sound luxurious, but don’t get the wrong idea it’s just that you will need to put up a huge amount of work and money to make it livable.

THE MISSION: Concealing Your Underground Survival Shelter

Now that you have set the foundation, then built the structure and constructed its interior, but then you notice that it still sticks out. Plus, your backyards still all messy and torn up. Of course, you don’t want it that way. Concealing your shelter is very important.

You have to consider that your neighbors must not know or have any idea that you own an underground shelter or safe-house buried in your backyards. If strangers find out that you’re storing food, ammo, and survival gears in your bunker, they will likely steal it.

DISGUISE YOUR BUNKER

Remember, that being incognito is way better than sticking out like a sore thumb. So, how can one effectively disguise a large, newly constructed underground survival shelter?

First, the easiest and efficient way is landscaping. Cover the bunker with local dirt and plant local fauna. Try to make it blend in as much as possible. Try to make it blend as much as possible.

Second, you can make use of rocks and bushes you dug up during excavation to play disguise of your air ventilation. For your door, you can have an underground hallway which connects your bunker to your house.

If you built your bunker underneath your home, you might be able to hide it on a trap-door under a carpet or couch. Some people put the entrance to their bunker inside of an old shed, or in the back of a safe-looking survival outhouse.

Find another creative idea when you get to this step, hiding your underground shelter. The more it’s disguised, the better it will be for protecting you, your family and your survival cache. Remember, no one can rob or attack what can’t be seen.

Jennifer Moran

Jennifer Moran is the author and the social media manager at theberkey.com. She has been working and passionate with writing for over four years. When she isn’t glued to a laptop screen, she spends time playing tennis, practicing yoga, and trying very hard not to sleep in the meditation. You can reach her at jennifer (at) the berkey (dot) com.